Galaxy S25 series battery and charging explained

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series has officially been unveiled, and while it doesn’t bring bigger batteries or faster charging speeds, several enhancements aim to improve its efficiency and usability.

One of the standout upgrades of the S25 series is the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which promises a significant boost in power efficiency.

While rumored AI battery optimization and magnetic wireless charging didn't appear, the new chipset still offers improved efficiency, and wireless charging remains unchanged. Overall, the Galaxy S25 series offers a mix of familiar features and subtle refinements. Let's dive in.

Galaxy S25 battery and charging upgrades

While these capacities are identical to the Galaxy S24 models, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip’s power efficiency promises to stretch battery life further. The GPU’s 40% efficiency boost is expected to significantly reduce power drain during intensive tasks such as gaming or video editing.

Something that might be even more important, however, is the battery health.

Addressing past battery degradation issues, the Galaxy S25 series introduces improved heat management and chipset optimizations designed to preserve battery health. Long-term results will tell the full story, but it's a promising start.

How much battery capacity does the Galaxy S25 have?

The Galaxy S25 lineup features the same battery sizes as the S24 lineup:

• Galaxy S25 Ultra: 5,000 mAh

• Galaxy S25 Plus: 4,900 mAh

• Galaxy S25: 4,000 mAh

How fast does the Galaxy S25 charge?

The Galaxy S25series also sticks with the same charging speeds as its predecessor:

• Galaxy S25 Ultra and S25 Plus: 45W wired charging

• Galaxy S25: 25W wired charging

Charging speeds should be about the same as last year's S24s, which for the Ultra meant around 68% in 30 minutes and a full charge in just over an hour in our tests.

We'll be putting the Galaxy S25 through its paces soon, so keep an eye out for our battery and charging test results.

Does the Galaxy S25 have wireless and reverse-wireless charging?

Wireless charging on allGalaxy S25models remains at 15W, with 4.5W reverse wireless charging also available. Unfortunately, the rumored addition of Qi2 charging did not materialize.

What charger does the Galaxy S25 use?

The S25 Ultra and S25 Plus still need a 45W power adapter with a 5A USB-C cable to achieve maximum charging speeds. The regular Galaxy S25 does not need the special 5A USB-C cable, so you don't need to worry about that if you decide to go for it. As for the charger, anything that supports 25W should do the job, just make sure you trust the manufacturer.